


Shaking Hands (And Kissing)

by Stironstep



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Drax totally ships it, He's just moving so slowly he's invisible, I didn't mention the cloak in this and I regret it, If you close your eyes and listen for a moment you can hear chips being eaten, M/M, Meditating, Tony Stark Has A Heart, a bit too much, poor stephen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21613051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stironstep/pseuds/Stironstep
Summary: One day, Tony comes back with a back of groceries. Stephen tries to help, but his hands just can't seem to stop shaking. This induces a mild panic attack. It's okay because Tony helps him through it, all the while holding Stephen's hands. Stephen notices, but never comments on it. Tony holding his hands starts to become a slight trend. Hmm... suspicious. Over time, he starts liking it. Oh no, Stephen likes it.
Relationships: Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 12
Kudos: 145





	Shaking Hands (And Kissing)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I'm back! As you can see, Stironstep's ships don't exactly always line up with mine, but we keep the screaming and ship wars at a minimum. The one thing IronFrost and IronStrange have in common is that it's kind of a science/magic clash, and we both like that. Hope you enjoy the fic. It's been in my google docs for like, weeks. And I just finished it. —Happy

To Stephen Strange, shaking hands had a different meaning now. It wasn’t a greeting you’d use in a formal setting, it was his life. Even after Kamar Taj, looking at and using his hands was a struggle. Living in the Stark Tower with all these fancy high-tech devices where he didn’t have to use his hands was… better. It still didn’t keep him from staring at his shaking hands with absolute disgust. Tony had ensured he felt 100% at all times, or he thought so. There were times Stephen put on a smile just for the other man. Which he never thought he would do. Trying to impress someone he had never liked? Strange. Ha. 

One day, Tony walked on him meditating/levitating on the couch. He proceeded to interrupt Stephen quite rudely. 

“Hey, wizard!” Tony yelled in his ear. “Whatcha up to? Flying on my couch?”

Stephen rolled his eyes and rubbed his sore side. “Well, I _was_ , until some idiot mechanic knocked me over. So now I’m nursing my side.”

“And your pride, I assume.”

Stephen glared at him as he took out some groceries and set them on the counter. Then, the sorcerer raised a brow at just how many bags of food Tony had bought. Tony noticed the staring and said, “What? The Avengers are hungry people. Plus, I have strays. Peter’s friends, Harley…”

“Who’s Harley?” Stephen asked. 

Tony sighed. “A kid who helped me out when I was in trouble. A lot of trouble.”

Stephen was worried. Tony had a look in his eye that made it seem like he was reliving some bad memories. Stephen wasn’t that good at cheering others up, so he volunteered some community service instead. “Why don’t I help you with those bags?”

“Thanks, Magic Man!” 

And so the two began to unpack groceries. It was a mundane task, but soon enough, Stephen kept looking at his hands. They would sometimes shake whilst holding goods, and it was so frustrating. It would be a repetitive pattern Stephen hated; Hold, Drop. Pickup. Hold, Drop. Pickup. He saw Tony watch him out of the corner of his eye and was humiliated. The Sorcerer Supreme can’t pick up potatoes? Pathetic. He decided to put away as many groceries as possible without Tony seeing him look so weak. It was a flurry of Stephen’s hands and arms picking up food and just hurling them into the fridge or pantry. All of a sudden, Tony grabbed a hold of his hands. He looked Stephen right in the eyes and said, “Stop.”

So he stopped. 

Tony continued to hold his shaking hands gently, but tight enough to keep him grounded. 

“Take a deep breath, Stephen.” 

He felt like he was choking on air. This was not how he planned to spend his afternoon. Tony dragged him to the couch, still holding his hands and breathing with him. Finally, Stephen’s breath caught up to him. He was all back to normal, and he bet Tony could see that too. But for some reason, Tony was still holding his hands. Stephen didn’t want to pull away, it might have been some psychological thing Tony knew about and it involved hand holding. It was fine. His hands weren’t shaking, and that was probably from the hand holding. 

Harley came over one day. Peter was there that day as well. Tony was trying to keep them apart, and Stephen was confused to why.

“You don’t understand, Stephen. On their own, they’re both forces to be reckoned with, but together? I don’t want to know. It could start Armageddon.”

Stephen didn’t see the problem. He had had a conversation with Harley when the boy needed help finding some books on a really high shelf. It wasn’t that he was short (the kid is a beanstalk) but the bookshelf was massive. Stephen needed to use magic to get it down. Harley had talked to him about magic the way Tony did, and he seemed like a really smart, really kind kid. He had also mentioned how Tony and him were **_connected_**. Whatever that meant, Harley was holding on to it. Peter, on the other hand, was almost the same. Had a bond with Tony that was unbreakable, and the similarities in intelligence were uncanny. Though, Peter was much more innocent than Harley. Tony once made a sex joke (Stephen wasn’t going to give context) and Peter didn’t get it. Poor Ned had to explain because the spider baby kept begging him. 

“So you obviously don’t want them to meet.” Stephen said. “But what if they find a cure for cancer or something? They’re both child prodigies, so if you recruit Natasha to keep them out of trouble for a day, they could really make something.”

Tony turned off his blowtorch and lifted up his metal mask. He took a bite out of Stephen’s sandwich he’d put on the coffee and said, “Y’know, Stevie—”

“Don’t call me that,”

“ _Stephen_. You may not understand the words of a genius, meaning: me, but I never said you weren’t bright!” and with that, the famous Iron Man rushed out of the room yelling for Natasha Romanoff to babysit two teenagers. Stephen just shook his head and continued his meditations. 

Only an hour later, Natasha forgot to keep Harley and Peter from procrastinating, and they got out of the room. As Stephen walked around Stark Tower, FRIDAY was initiating what she called ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’. Stephen sighed, and teleported into his room to get away from the sound. While he was getting to the good part of his book, Tony came rushing in, panting, for some reason. Stephen set his book down and asked, “What is it now?”

Tony collapsed onto his bed with a dramatic sigh. “Wizard, I am forever scarred. I knew Harley was a bit of a pervert, but Peter? I’m disowning both of them!”

“Okay one, you never adopted either of them in the first place—”

“Shhh, Pepper has the papers in a drawer of mine somewhere.”

“And two, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Tony laughed, and Stephen’s hands started gripping the sheets tightly. He wasn’t being mocked, was he? His hands couldn’t turn white, he didn’t have that much control. Instead, they started shaking.

“Actually,” Tony said. “I caught them—” He turned around to see Stephen’s hands going haywire. “Hey, are you okay?” 

He shook his head. “I—I can’t let go of the sheets.”

“Just look at me, okay?” whispered Tony. “Why can’t you let go?”

“I don’t—I don’t know.”

Tony nodded, and took Stephen’s hands. “Is this okay?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to know what I caught Harley and Peter doing?”

“Sure.”

“They were making out. In a closet.”

Stephen’s eyes widened. “What? Really?”

“Yeah, crazy, I know.” Tony started laughing. It was a beautiful thing. Wait, what? No, Tony Stark’s laugh was not beautiful in any aspect. It was just contagious. That’s why Stephen started laughing too. He definitely didn’t want to hear Tony keep laughing. Not at all. Tony still had his hands. They were warm, and calloused. It felt… familiar. And when Tony pulled away, Stephen found himself wanting them back. 

The next week, Tony called him in to do what he only described as ‘testing’. There was no doubt about it, Stephen was anxious. For all he knew, Tony could be turning him into the next Bruce Banner. But, as it turned out, he was running blood pressure and blood sample tests. 

“I’m checking everyone I can to see if anyone has diabetes or low blood sugar. It’s better if we find out sooner rather than later.” 

Stephen knew that Tony Stark wasn’t a doctor, and he wasn’t counting on himself to know about these things. He used to be a surgeon, not a diabetes specialist, but… this was Tony they were talking about. He must’ve done some serious research for this, or hired someone to do it for him. Stephen trusts him. 

“That’s… smart.” he said. “Now, which one do we do first?”

“I think blood pressure.” 

Tony held his hand for this part, which wasn’t necessary, but Stephen wasn’t complaining. The night before, he had done some deep thinking and came out with the answer that; shit, he was gay for Iron Man. But honestly, who isn’t at this point? During the blood pressure test, his hands were actually shaking a bit, so the hand holding helped with that as well. Next was the blood sample. Tony took it quickly while holding Stephen’s hands again. 

“All done!” he smiled, putting the needle somewhere else for now. “Want a treat to go?”

Stephen decided to go in for the kill. He was feeling brave today. “How about a kiss?”

“Oooh. Feeling dangerous? On the cheek or lips?” Um. Okay. Stephen was not expected him to go along with it. He felt a hot, red blush crawl up his neck and into his cheeks as he replied, “Lips, please.”

Tony kissed him and—all was gone. White noise filled his ears as he wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled closer. A scratchy goatee left his face pink. Wait, that might be the blush.

“You liked that?” Tony asked when they pulled away.

“Yes please.” 

His hands weren’t shaking anymore.

Bonus:

“Oh my god, should you really be doing that?” Peter whispered to Harley. Harley had his phone out, and was recording everything happening in the lab as of five minutes ago.

“Babe, have you never blackmailed anyone _ever_?”

“I’ve been blackmailed by MJ before…” 

“Aww, you’re so cute!” Harley gave Peter a kiss on the nose before realising Tony was searching for ‘something that made a noise like two teenage gays’. 

**Author's Note:**

> You like? I don't really. I have much better fic ideas planned. Anyways, comment or kudos if you enjoyed. (Seriously, I just might give my life if you do. Lol) —Happy


End file.
